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Melting, smelting, and recycling: A regional study around the Late Bronze Age mining site of Prigglitz-Gasteil, Lower Austria.

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a study on copper production and distribution in Lower Austria's southeastern region during the Late Bronze Age (c. 1350-800 BC), with the focal point being the chemistry and isotopic character of artifacts from a small copper mining site at Prigglitz-Gasteil on the Eastern Alps' easternmost fringe. Ores, casting cakes, and select objects from the Late Bronze Age mining site at Prigglitz-Gasteil, Lower-Austria, and within 15 km of its surroundings, were chemically and isotopically analysed using XRF, NAA, and MC-ICPMS. The importance of Prigglitz-Gasteil as a local mining and metal processing center is evaluated based on the produced data, and the distribution and sourcing of copper-producing materials found at the site are discussed. Special attention is paid to the mixing of scrap and source materials early in the metal production process. The most salient discussions focus on the variability of the chemistry and Pb isotopic ratios of the studied objects, which seem to constitute a multitude of source materials, unlike the pure chalcopyrite-source copper produced from the Prigglitz-Gasteil mine itself. The analytical data suggests that copper alloys were mainly imported from materials originating in the Slovakian Ore Mountains, which were subsequently mixed/recycled with relatively pure locally produced copper. The purity of the copper from Prigglitz-Gasteil was fortuitous in identifying imported copper that contained measurable amounts of Pb and other chemically distinct characteristics. The chaîne opératoire of metal production at the site is mentioned; however, it is clear that additional information on the region's geochemistry is required before any finite conclusions on the ore-to-metal production can be made.

SUBMITTER: Modlinger M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8284822 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:This paper starts from theoretical and methodical considerations about the role of archaeobotanical finds in culinary archaeology, emphasizing the importance of processed cereal preparations as the "missing link" between crop and consumption. These considerations are exemplified by the discussion of abundant new archaeobotanical data from the Late Bronze Age copper mining site of Prigglitz-Gasteil, situated at the easternmost fringe of the Alps. At this site, copper ore mining in opencast mines took place from the 11th until the 9th century BCE (late Urnfield Culture), as well as copper processing (beneficiation, smelting, refining, casting) on artificial terrain terraces. During archaeological excavations from 2010 to 2014, two areas of the site were investigated and sampled for archaeobotanical finds and micro-debris in a high-resolution approach. This paper aims at 1) analysing the food plant spectrum at the mining settlement of Prigglitz-Gasteil basing on charred plant macroremains, 2) investigating producer/consumer aspects of Prigglitz-Gasteil in comparison to the Bronze Age metallurgical sites of Kiechlberg, Klinglberg, and Mauken, and 3) reconstructing the miners' and metallurgists' diets. Our analyses demonstrate that the plant-based diet of the investigated mining communities reflects the general regional and chronological trends rather than particular preferences of the miners or metallurgists. The lack of chaff, combined with a high occurrence of processed food, suggests that the miners at Prigglitz-Gasteil were supplied from outside with ready-to-cook and processed grain, either from adjacent communities or from a larger distance. This consumer character is in accordance with observation from previously analysed metallurgical sites. Interestingly, the components observed in charred cereal products (barley, Hordeum vulgare, and foxtail millet, Setaria italica) contrast with the dominant crop taxa (broomcorn millet, Panicum miliaceum, foxtail millet, and lentil, Lens culinaris). Foraging of fruits and nuts also significantly contributed to the daily diet.

Project description:Mining and smelting activities are the primary sources of toxic metal pollution in China. The purpose of this study was to investigate the pollution risk and identify sources of metals in the arable soil of a Zn/Pb mining and smelting district located in Huize, in Southwest China. Topsoil (346) and profile (three) samples were collected and analyzed to determine the total concentrations of eight toxic elements (Cd, Hg, As, Pb, Cr, Cu, Zn and Ni). The results showed that the mean Cd, Hg, As, Pb, Cr, Cu, Zn and Ni concentrations were 9.07, 0.37, 25.0, 512, 88.7, 239, 1761 and 90.3 mg/kg, respectively, all of which exceeded both the Huize and Yunnan soil background levels. Overall the topsoil was quite acidic, with a mean pH of 5.51. The mean geoaccumulation index (Igeo) revealed that the pollution level was in the order of Pb > Zn > Cd > Hg > As > Ni > Cu > Cr. The ecological risk index (Ei) indicated that there were serious contamination risks for Cd and Hg, high risk for Pb, moderate risk for As, and Cd and Hg were the dominant contributors to the high combined ecological risk index (Er) with a mean parameter of 699 meaning a serious ecological risk. The Nemerow pollution index (Pn) showed that 99.1% of soil samples were highly polluted or worse. Horizontally, high concentrations of Cd, Hg, As, Pb and Zn appeared in the north and middle of the study area, while Cr, Cu and Ni showed an opposite trend. Vertically, as the depth increased, Cd, Hg, As, Pb and Zn contents declined, but Cr, Cu and Ni exhibited an increasing trend. The mobilities of the metals were in the order of Zn > Cd > Hg > As > Pb. Horizontal and vertical distribution, coupled with correlation analysis, PCA and CA suggested that Cd, Hg, As, Pb and Zn mainly came from the anthropogenic sources, whereas Cr and Ni had a lithogenic origin. The source of Cu was a combination of the presence of parent materials as well as human activities. This study provides a base for the local government to control the toxic metal pollution and restore the soil environment system and an effective method to identify the sources of the studied pollutants.

Project description:Prehistoric mines are often too large and too deep for conventional archaeological excavations. Non-destructive and minimally invasive methods of prospection can help to overcome these limits. Our case study of a Late Bronze Age opencast mine (ca. 1050 to 780 BC) shows the potential of geophysical prospection methods combined with core drillings. For the reconstruction of this mine, we combined electrical resistivity and induced polarization (IP) tomography, seismic refraction tomography (SRT) and ground penetrating radar (GPR). The geophysical data were collected based on an orthogonal grid of 10 longitudinal and transverse profiles, laid out over an area of ~330 × 300 m. The profiles allowed a three-dimensional interpolation of the geological units, the mining dumps, the mining areas and the residual mineralization. Additionally, two deep cores were drilled to ground-truth the geophysical prospection results. They provided information about the stratification at intersections of the measurement grid, and this proved crucial for validating the interpreted geophysical profiles. Each geophysical method applied provided different information for the reconstruction of the site: the electrical resistivity tomography offered the best clues as to the locations of the geological units and the dumps, the seismic refraction tomography visualized the transition between the dump or backfill layers and the underlying bedrock, and the IP measurements revealed residual mineralization. The georadar measurements, on the other hand, did not contribute to the interpretation owing to the limited depth of penetration. Based on the combination of borehole and geophysical data, it was possible to develop a hypothetical model of an open-pit mine for copper ore that developed in three phases (mines A-C) during the Late Bronze Age. Without the control provided by the core drillings, one of the mining areas (mine A) could not have been correctly identified in the geophysical prospections.

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Melting, smelting, and recycling: A regional study around the Late Bronze Age mining site of Prigglitz-Gasteil, Lower Austria.

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